The news is not enlightening, but its context deserves attention. The American Federal Reserve (FED) maintained its rates without changes on Wednesday, at 4.25 and 4.5%.
But two governors of their advice voted against maintenance. Since 1993, this situation had never happened: never more than one of the members of the decision -making body (seven) has been against the Fed Councils for 32 years.
The two recalcitrants are Michelle Bowman and Christopher Waller. Both Republicans, the two officials would have liked to reduce the federal reserve rates. Both were appointed by Donald Trump in 2020. They warned: Christopher Waller had mentioned a degraded macroeconomic context two weeks ago.
As for Michelle Bowman, he recently renewed himself in the Banking Supervision Chief, argued that limited inflation could lead to a rate fall.
“If inflationary pressures remain contained, it would support a fall in the key rate of our next meeting to bring it closer to its neutral level and maintain a healthy labor market,” he begged at the end of June.
Donald Trump exerts pressure on
Relatively rare media pressures, which bind to Donald Trump’s strategy: exerts pressure on the Fed and its president, the moderate and opponent of Trump Jerome Powell, to reduce rates, which are, for example, double in Europe.
The president seeks to activate American growth: low rates promote credit, in particular, and allow the economy to be reappeared. This can lead reverse to stronger inflation.
However, the US economy, according to the latest figures published today by the Department of Commerce, is already very good: its GDP has grown in the last quarter, with an annual rate (0.7% for 3 months). 104,000 positions have also been created, a solid figure. In the first quarter of 2025, GDP had contracted 0.5%, but the machine has been binding.
Donald Trump took the opportunity to enter Jerome Powell in his social network of truth:
However, inflation remains high: this quarter in the United States increased, 2.7% in annualized rhythm. On the contrary, it has stagnated in Europe, around 2% for several months.
Source: BFM TV
